Hilton to start rolling out new smart hotel room system next year

Hilton is planning to rollout a full mobile-focused connected room next year. The hotel company announced today that it will deploy the Hilton Honors app with smart home features to all of its properties, allow visitors to manage their entire stay directly from the app…

Currently, Hilton’s Connected Room is in beta testing at one hotel, but the company will start expanding to more proprieties over the coming weeks, with a full rollout commencing in 2018.

Hilton says the Hilton Honors app will allow guests to control the temperature in their room, adjust lighting, stream content to their TV, and control Internet-connected picture frames by displaying their own personal images.

There’s also support for scenes, so every time you stay at a Hilton with Connected Room, you can tap a single button to set your room up just as you like it.

Currently, Hilton Honors members can use the accompanying app to check in to their room and enter/exit. However, the company describes its Connected Room as extension of those efforts. Furthermore, with so much of the hotel experience based int the app, Hilton says it will be able to update and add new features and capabilities on the fly with app updates.

“At Hilton, almost all digital products are born out of necessity and shortcomings in the marketplace – and Connected Room is no exception,” said Joshua Sloser, senior vice president of Digital Product, Hilton.

“The technology we put in hotel rooms has to be intuitive, simple and quick to pick up because guests typically spend a limited amount of time in their rooms and we want them to spend that time enjoying the experience instead of adapting to new technology.”

Hilton’s Connected Room platform certainly sounds intriguing. It’s unclear what exact smart home framework the platform is built on, but it sounds rather sophisticated.

Hilton’s Connected Room platform certainly sounds intriguing. It’s unclear what exact smart home framework the platform is built on, but it sounds rather sophisticated.

What do you think of Hilton’s Connected Room? Would this entice you to choose a Hilton hotel over other hotels? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments.

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